2014 ~~ A Creative Review

Here we are 3 weeks into 2015 and I thought it was time to look back at 2014. It was  the year that I accomplished my goal of starting this blog in May 2014. I did it to be able to share my creative side. I was also lucky enough to be chosen as a Design Team member with Mountain Plains Crafters . I met that wonderful group of women through our love of Unity Stamp Company and their amazing stamps.The sisterhood that I have found through my card-making was what inspired me to make this card for this post. Made with a "vintage" Unity girlfriend stamp, a Unity sentiment  and a cute envelope stamp whose origin I cannot remember, this card was such fun to make.. Hope you like it !!

In the 7 months since I started Meticulosity, I have shown you Where I Create and how much I LOVE coffee. I have been in Bloghops and sponsored a Christmas in July Bloghop with Mountain Plains Crafters . I have shared my love of washi and also FLOW magazine. 

I was lucky enough to have a project on display at CHA this month. Made with fantastic Adornit products, it was a first for me. But I will definitely be making more wooden projects and also using the wonderful Art Play Paintables again by Lindasy Waltman-Ostrom. Mountain Plains Crafters and Adornit also recently hosted a joint bloghop. 

Detail from Adornit project

I also set a goal to do something creative every day in 2014. I made and posted 315 cards in an album on Facebook. Some days it was as simple as reading a creative magazine or stamping several images to color later. Even after a crazy shift at work, I could always find a few minutes to do something creative. All in all, I think it was a success !!

For 2015, my creative goals are simple. Try a few new techniques. Make at least 1 Christmas card each week. Clean out my scrap drawers once a month and share my scraps with 2 others. Have more fun with Mountain Plains Crafters. AND continue my creative journey here with Meticulosity.

Thank you for joining me again.Your support has been amazing and always appreciated.  Leave me a comment about something you would like me to write about, create, review or use. I will choose a random winner from the comments and send you some goodies to start your own creative journey in 2015 !!

And so it continues...

dEb

Details, details, details ...

What a GREAT BlogHop we had with Adornit !! Aren't their products amazing?? They are at CHA in Anaheim,CA right now showing off all of their goodies !! Congrats to Carla Hundley for her winning comment on my post during the Hop--she will be receiving some fun Adornit products to play with !!  This post is a bit more detailed regarding the supplies I used....

Adornit has a fantastic variety of gorgeous fabric available and I used 2 of them to mat my first card, Burnish Creme  was used for the outer mat and Burlap Beige for the inner mat. Burlap Beige has a subtle design of cursive writing & postal marks. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be using a larger piece next time.. I used a Stampin' Up sentiment and some clearance flowers bought many years ago, along with some Basic Grey fabric tape to finish it off. I used Tombow AQUA Mono Liquid Glue to adhere some of each fabric to Kraft cardstock. I then die cut the mats with my Cuttlebug and adhered the mats to the card again with my Tombow AQUA.. The Kraft cardstock made working with fabric a whole lot easier for me.

This next card was SO much fun to make !! I used Adornit's line of Art Play Paintables by Lindsay Ostrom. The image I used is from the "Be Awesome" set. It is on a 12 x 12 sheet of amazing watercolor paper along with 11 other designs. I used Distress markers, Stampin' Up markers, atyou Spica Glitter pens and Wink of Stella to color in this design. A bit of Adornit's Pink Pixie Dots double-sided paper was perfect to complete the banner . A bit of Dollar Tree glitter washi was a cute touch to the folded edge of my card. I absolutely LOVE this sentiment. It reminds me of friends who are going through very rough times  and still find time to celebrate the little things in life.. "Be Brave and just keep dancing" ~~ great advice for all of us !!

 CHA, 

My last project is the one I am proudest of.. I used Adornit's  Choose Happy Word Plaque. I'll admit to being a bit overwhelmed when starting on this one . But when I looked at it as just a card on a larger scale, I was immediately relaxed. Another amazing Lindsay Ostrom design from the Life's Journey Art Play Paintable was my focal point. I colored it with Koi Watercolors, Distress Markers, Wink of Stella and Stampin' Up markers & Dazzling Details. I paper-punched several clouds and popped them up with dimensionals. I used Tombow AQUA Mono Liquid Glue to adhere the wooden letters to more Pink Pixie Dots paper (also used as my background on the wooden plaque and adhered with Mod Podge). I completed it with a rainbow of colorful rhinestones in the center of  most of the circles. Thanks to my guy, Brian who wrote a beautiful song- "Home on the Hill". It was my inspiration for this project. This wooden plaque of mine is on display at the CHA 2015 Mega Show in the Adornit booth. How cool is that !! I am beyond thrilled.

I hope you will check out Adornit's website and become inspired. Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.. I will be posting a Year in Review here soon....I appreciate all of your support !!

I adore Adornit

The opportunity for all of us at Mountain Plains Crafters  to work with everyone at Adornit on this Joint Blog Hop has been such fun !! Their line of products ranges from scrapbook papers to gorgeous fabrics; wooden shapes to a clothing boutique.  We were challenged to make 3 projects using their wide array of products . One of the projects had to incorporate their wooden pieces.My post today focuses on the amazing Adornit supplies that I used-- details about the other products I used will be in more posts later this week.. You should have gotten here from the blog of my supremely talented "glitter" sister Terri.. And if you have somehow gotten lost, you can head to the Adornit Blog for the entire line-up.

Adornit has a fantastic variety of gorgeous fabric available and I used 2 of them to mat my first card, Burnish Creme  was used for the outer mat and Burlap Beige for the inner mat. Burlap Beige has a subtle design of cursive writing & postal marks. I absolutely loved it..

This next card was SO much fun to make !! I used Adornit's line of Art Play Paintables by Lindsay Ostrom. The image I used is from the "Be Awesome" set. It is on a 12 x 12 sheet of amazing watercolor paper along with 11 other designs. A bit of Adornit's Pink Pixie Dots double-sided paper was perfect to complete the banner..

My last project is the one I am proudest of.. I used Adornit's  Choose Happy Word Plaque. I'll admit to being a bit overwhelmed when starting on this one, my first wooden project ever !!  But when I looked at it as just a card on a larger scale, I was immediately relaxed. Another amazing Lindsay Ostrom design from the "Life's Journey" Art Play Paintable was my focal point. Pink Pixie Dots paper was adhered to the plaque as a background. Don't you just love those BIG polka dots ??

I am also thrilled to let you all know that this wooden plaque will be heading to CHA with Adornit next week and will be on display.I am over the moon, thrilled beyond belief and overwhelmed at the thought of it. It was created when I stepped once again out of my comfort zone. Not too shabby a start to another New Year. I am looking forward to a creatively wonderful 2015 ! Thank you for letting me share my creativity with you..

This post has been brought to you by the letter

Collect all of the clues and follow the instructions on Adornit's post for a chance to win. Your next stop on this fun hop is at the awesomely talented Jennifer's blog right here.. Have fun and don't forget to collect all of the clues along the way !! Comment on this post for a chance to win something from my crafty stash !!

Queens of Glitter

MariLynn DeGroot challenged us to create a glittery card in honor of our crafty sisters .. This was the perfect time for me to finally use my Suzi Blu "Queen of Glitter" stamp by Unity Stamp Company ... On a DCWV Inc. card base, I placed some October Afternoon patterned paper banners.. The glittered edge is a piece of double-sided tape that I poured the leftover glitter on from the stamped image... A bit of paper-piecing, several rhinestones, a red mini-clip and it's done .... Sheryl, Terri, Pam, Jennifer, MariLynn & Paula ••• I love you guys ••• You are my crafty sisters... We are Queens of Glitter !!  And to all of my creative friends, thank you so much for letting me share Meticulosity with you .... I appreciate your support and comments .... Leave a comment about this post and you have a chance to win a glittery surprise !! Also check out the Mountain Plains Crafters blog to see all of our creations ... And Happy Holidays to all of you ...

A Card, My Friends & Friends With Flair....

dEb here with a quick card AND a way to be green all at the same time.... I absolutely love the holidays.. Christmas patterned papers, holiday rubber stamps, my new Tim Holtz poinsettia die . I love holiday lights, classic Christmas movies ( Elf and A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim )  & quirky Christmas movies ( The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Family Stone ). I am also a hoarder of Christmas cards that I receive from my friends.. There, I admitted it !! I have cards from friends near and far; and I cherish each and every one of them.. I keep them year to year but eventually do send most to the recycle bin.. Some, however, I have kept for years. This year as I was heading to recycle with last year's cards, in anticipation of receiving new ones this year, I had a thought... Why not make cards out of them ???  I know I am not the first person to do this but I think my efforts might be a bit unique. 

I started with a kraft card, got out my 1" circle punch and went to town. I used a fun sentiment from Unity Stamp Company's "Stay Cozy" and finished with a doily half and half of a 2.5" circle. The dotted paper is from We R Memory Keeper's "Winter Frost" collection. Thanks to Brian, Bonnie, Lisa, Jacky, Donna and Meredith for helping me make memories - AND cards !!

I posted the first card on the Mountain Plains Crafters blog. I am a member of their Design Team and with that, I welcomed 7 new friends into my life... This post is for all of you - Pam, Sheryl, Terri, MariLynn, Paula, Christina & Jennifer. 

I also posted this card on Unity Stamp Company's Friends With Flair

Just for Fun - Trees

One of the wonderful things about being on a Design Team is always having someone to talk "shop" with. They are there to bounce ideas off of, to tell me when there is a great deal and where, to encourage each other when we are in a crafty funk and also to challenge each other. MariLyn came up with the theme-Trees.Lots of images came to mind - trees with brightly colored autumn leaves, bare branches, Christmas trees, a tiny Charlie Brown tree.. But when I thought of making a card, I immediately thought of my Impression Obsession tree line die. Hope you like what I came up with ! Also check the MPC blog for the other tree creations.

Supplies : Fancy Pants " Merry Little Christmas" Brag Pad page, Impression Obsession tree line die, Unity Stamp Company "Tiny Tags Vintage Christmas" sentiment, DCWV Cafe Mediterranean cardstock matstack  for die-cut image

Try a challenge like this with some of your creative friends. We have a list of themes that we can choose from for challenges, blog posts etc... The possibilities are endless..Thanks for visiting. I hope you will be back soon to see what Meticulosity is up to next.

And the Winner(s) is (are)....

Thank you so much to everyone who visited here and/or commented as I celebrated 6 months of Meticulosity... I will be forever  grateful to Crafter's Companion for providing my first "official" blog candy !! I had fun making the cards for this post and know that the winner will enjoy creating with her prize. The   comment chosen at random was from " heidiscollNovember 24, 2014 at 10:50 PM  Awesome cards! And many more blog posts too come! Love Crafters Companion! So great that they were able to sponsor your blog! :) "     Heidi, please send me your snail mail address and the goodies will be on their way !! 

I had so many nice comments about my blog and the cards I have made that I chose a second comment at random for a bit of blog candy to inspire your creativeness..   " creedalyssaNovember 23, 2014 at 7:54 PM   Happy 6 month Blogaversary to you!! Love seeing your creations and the ideas and tips you teach. Keeps me inspired. Want to go try the sequin in the snowflake idea right now. Keep the beautiful creations coming!! "   Send me your address and I will send you a bit of Happy Mail...